The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is certainly no friend to animal agriculture. This is a topic that has been covered extensively on the BEEF Daily blog, so it’s not a revelation to many of you. However, when I travel the country speaking to agricultural groups, I’m always surprised when someone approaches me after a speech to tell me they had no idea of HSUS’s deceptive tactics. These types of conversations motivate me to keep educating both ranchers and the general public about the misleading and less-than-noble efforts of this animal rights activist group.

Trisch writes, “The HSUS takes in hundreds of millions each year and spends less than 1% on animal shelters. The rest of the money goes to lawyers and lobbyists. The HSUS uses very deceptive TV ads under guise names asking for donations. The HSUS does very little to help dogs and cats as shown in TV ads. The HSUS goal is to stop all hunting, animal agriculture and backdoor gun control. Each state has biologists who are trained in ethical ways of controlling wild game populations and protecting the public. If those population control methods are outlawed, the animal population will increase. This will be a huge public safety issue as you will see in the picture. Lastly, there have been 150 complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission against the HSUS. It is time to remove the HSUS from the non-profit list with the IRS.”

What do you think of this effort to remove the non-profit status of HSUS? What are your thoughts on the organization? Do you have other suggestions on how animal agriculture can fight back against HSUS's deceptive practices? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

The views of Amanda Radke do not necessarily reflect those of beefmagazine.com or the Penton Farm Progress Group.

We understand that most of us do not like the organization or what they do. However, on what grounds do you believe one can remove their non-profit status? Remember, a Non Profit Organization is an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals rather than distributing them as profit or dividends. Even if you had 300,000 signatures it would only be considered as 300,000 people disgruntled with the HSUS. I suggest fighting fire with fire. Use the Cattlemen's associations, poultry groups, pet stores, people with puppies and kittens, and others to expose the HSUS. Of course that takes someone as willing as the HSUS volunteers to organize the goals of your organization. It takes money to print flyers and run ads. I believe there is a need for such an organization, but for some reason, conservative agriculture people are not willing to spend the time and effort it takes to get organized. Therefore we loose. The squeaky wheel gets the oil...that's cowboy logic.

C'mon. Who so serious everyone? Have a little fun with this one. This petition isn't going anywhere. I could start a petition to have the sun come up in the West. Let's just keep working to build the industry's image, and give the HSUS nose a little tweak when we can.

An organization that lobbies & spends literally millions of dollars attempting to abolish a huge part of the food production chain should not be tax exempt. I'd be willing to help contribute dollars to purchase meat from cattle, swine, poultry, or sheep & top it off with a gallon of milk to send to their board of directors for a nice Christmas dinner with a nice card stating how important the animal agriculture is to the economy of U.S.A. as well as the millions of people employed by this segment of our national economy.

What we really need to do is raise the check-off to $5.00/head, fire everyone who is currently managing the checkoff and get some proactive marketing folks who can dispell the myths and educate the consumer. I Spent the greater part of my career in marketing and the Beef Industry does a very poor job. A petition does nothing! it is an emotional , defensive position which only gives the enemy more fuel for fodder.

I agree. The petition can hurt. It could indicate that a bunch of ranchers are ignorant of the law (which would be spun by urbanites as just ignorant). I can also bolster the HSUS by their members saying "see, we are making progress. We are hurting them." Before signing any petition for legal action I would want to see the basis for the legal action. What is it?

I agree whole-heartedly; strengthen the check-off. With the dollars at stake, public relations should not be constrained to grass-roots level. No company leaves its marketing to an amateur group, cattle producers shouldn't either.

Also, don't loose sight of the HSUS's mission regarding companion animals. The HSUS is not set up to run or support local animal shelters. Their work toward small animals has to do with disaster response, such as Hurricanes Katrina, Sandy, and also with rescue from puppy mills. This is important work that holds high value for many of the consumers we, as livestock producers, hope to woo.

forgot to mention that the HSUS was investigated by the Louisiana Attorney General for 18 months because it could only account for around 20% of the $34.7 million raised "for Hurricane Katrina animal rescue." Pacelle and company escaped criminal charges only because of a legal loophole/disclaimer on the HSUS website that allowed it to use Katrina donations on "future disasters." And before you claim that it was Louisiana cockfighters and dog breeders that brought about the fraud investigation, it is common knowledge that dozens of HSUS's own Katrina volunteers, legitimate rescues and shelters in the Gulf Coast, New Orleans pet owners whose animals were lost due to HSUS's gross incompetence, and national animal charities (including Best Friends) that complained to government officials.

As far as Sandy, HSUS fundraised like it was Katrina, reported just $2.1 million to the NY Attorney General, and could only account for one third of that as Sandy related expenses. The "future disasters" disclaimer was featured more prominently on the donation page, but only 3% of donors were wise enough to restrict their donations to Sandy.

2012 was the year of the East Coast's version of Katrina. It was also a year when HSUS funneled $26 million to the Cayman Islands (page 32 of their 2012 tax returns.)

HSUS's "puppy mill rescue" work was so great that the entire Emergency Response Team quit. That was the first and last response team with ethics and experience. The only people working there now are those who know very little about anything and are willing to pose for the cameras with animals rescued and cared for by local law enforcement and legitimate animal care charities.

While I would like to see HSUS lose non profit status, exactly what grounds can that be attacked on? It could end up a fiasco like the Oprah lawsuit that just makes ranchers look bad. Get an opinion from a non profit attorney before spending time on this.

Could they be required to disclose on ads the % spent on salaries, animal care, etc.?

We do need to spend more on the checkoff, and checkoff salaries do not need to be really high.

We should also try to individually spend time writing letters to the editor of urban newspapers, New York times, etc. when they have misconceptions, instead of preaching to the choir.

Amanda, maybe you could include a few of those type articles, and especially where to send a letter to the editor. I know I get those letters written a lot more if contact info is included.

You are taking on a very complicated and legal task if you want HSUS to lose their non profit status. The Feds gave them an EIN, but the state where they filed for non profit status has to revoke the status and that has to be based on a lot of legal factors and one of the factors can't be that the cattlemen are unhappy with the HSUS publicity. These kinds of knee jerk reactions to the HSUS publicity can have serious blowback to the cattlemen. Petitions alone will won't do the job, it requires legal measures and an attorney is needed in the state where the non profit status was granted. Be very careful in what you want and be prepared for legal retaliation. This is a well funded organization that you are taking on and the first issue is the freedom of speech. I don't like the publicity that HSUS produces, but sometimes we are our own worst enemies.

Of course, there is no legal basis to this petition. It's a gesture, sort of like the thousands of folks who signed the petition for the U.S. to deport Piers Morgan. He's not going anywhere, though he's no longer on the air -- not because of a petition but because he was a righteous gasbag. HSUS won't lose its tax-exempt status. Let's have a little fun with the petition, though.

Janet- With all the millions HSUS has how many animals did they rescue in those disasters? HSUS raised 34.6 million but only used 8.6 million in "relief efforts". There is 16.5 million that is completely unaccounted for, they did such a good job that the Louisana State attorney opened up a fund misuse case. If you think they are doing a good job you should run for congress, that logic would fit right in.